A new experimental drug has confounded scientists after it appeared to reverse age-related cognitive decline in mice seemingly overnight. The research has far-reaching implications for a number of degenerative disease treatments.
A new study tested how effective a drug called ISRIB was in reversing age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice. The team of scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found startling results.
The research suggests age-related cognitive losses may be caused by a kind of reversible physiological “blockage” rather than more “permanent degradation,” according to researcher Susanna Rosi.
Instead, it appears that cognitive capacities are not irrevocably lost but have been blocked and lay dormant as a result of a mechanism known as the integrated stress response (ISR). This blockage is triggered by a “vicious cycle of cellular stress,” according to Peter Walter, a professor in the UCSF Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
https://www.rt.com/news/508430-drug-reverses-cognitive-decline/